


banana pancakes

by caffeinatedvirgo



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, established jj/kie, honestly this is mostly just jiara idc, it's just the vibe man, jj and kie are soft, no banana pancakes are actually had, no plot just pogues, set somewhere in the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caffeinatedvirgo/pseuds/caffeinatedvirgo
Summary: The forecast didn't show rain for Saturday, but they make the best of it anyway.
Relationships: JJ/Kiara (Outer Banks)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 194





	banana pancakes

**Author's Note:**

> hello, i'm back! been a while. i'm actually working on a longer multi-chapter fic right now; it's slow, but it's going. so in the meantime i wrote this pointless little thing, because it's a rainy day and banana pancakes came on while i was driving home from work and boom, inspo. so yeah. please enjoy this unedited nonsense of a fluffpiece.

_we got everything we need right here_  
_and everything we need is enough_

* * *

Kie wakes up to the sound of rain. Squinting through tired eyes, she can see out the window that the world is washed out, bleak and gray and watery. She doesn’t remember rain being in the forecast this weekend. Oh, well. Summer rain is the best kind of rain, at least.

She shifts then, finally noticing the uncomfortable prodding at her back. It’s JJ’s arm, of course—they fell asleep last night after a Boneyard party, tangled together on his bed at the Chateau. But that rarely lasts, as Kie’s on the restless side and JJ runs unbearably warm. Needless to say, they often end up fairly separated by the morning. Less than romantic, Kie knows, but she's never been one for clichés anyway.

She turns onto her side, carefully, facing him. Yes, she hates clichés, but she really does love JJ when he’s asleep. He looks innocent,unbothered, like the seventeen-year-old kid he is. No crease between his brows, no downward curve of his lips. Just fluttering blond lashes and the occasional twitch of the nose.

Smiling softly, she ghosts her fingernails up his arm. He’s a fairly heavy sleeper, so it doesn’t wake him, merely causes him to pull his arm away and turn on his side with a dissatisfied grumble. Kie’s smile grows, and she carefully slips out of the bed, bare feet hitting cool hardwood. She sticks to the floor a bit, the humidity from the summer rain thick in the air. She doesn’t even want to think about what the mugginess will do to her poor hair, subconsciously running a hand through her curls as she grabs her phone from the nightstand. It’s not even 8 o’clock yet, but she knows she isn’t going to be falling back to sleep any time soon, so she makes her way out of the bedroom and into the short hallway outside.

The door to John B’s room is slightly ajar, and she gently pushes it open, careful to avoid its signature creak. She smiles a bit at what she sees. Unlike Kie and JJ, Sarah and John B somehow manage to stay together throughout the night. John B is curled on his side, his head bent into the crook of Sarah’s neck and his arm strewn across her stomach. The former Kook princess herself is on her back, mouth open and snoring like a train. Kie snorts quietly at that. For all of Sarah’s beauty and grace, the girl is a less-than-glamorous sleeper.

She carefully pulls the door shut and makes her way out into the main part of the house, glancing at Pope as she makes her way into the kitchen. Since she and JJ got together and began sharing his room—or Big John’s, depending on how you want to look at it—Pope has claimed the pullout bed in the living room, graduating from his original spot on the couch out on the porch.

Surprisingly, Pope is the heaviest sleeper out of all the Pogues, so Kie isn’t worried about waking him as she rummages through the cupboards in the kitchen. Rainy mornings always put her in the mood for pancakes, and she hopes to everything that there’s still some mix leftover from last time. She figures the guys haven’t used it, considering none of them are exactly top chefs, and her suspicion is proven correct when she finds the yellow box she was searching for.

There are barely enough eggs in the fridge, but there is half a gallon of milk that’ll thankfully be enough, but also no blueberries, which is actually very disappointing because blueberry pancakes are a favorite that everyone can agree on.

Kie makes a mental note to initiate a grocery run in the near future. She’ll drag Sarah and probably Pope along with her, because she absolutely does not trust JJ and John B to buy anything that’s not packed with sugar and unnecessary fats.

She twists her hair up into a haphazard bun, to keep it out of the pancake mix and to prevent it from clinging to her neck in the humidity, then shuffles her rainy day playlist because _yes, she has one of those,_ and sets to work on the pancakes, a chilled-out Hendrix song playing from her phone. She's only just begun pouring the mix onto the pan when she hears a familiar shuffle of footsteps behind her.

She knows it's JJ even before she feels his arms wind around her waist, pulling her into his chest as he presses a kiss to the side of her neck and sways them a bit to the music. Kie lets her eyes close, tilting her head over and back against his collarbone with a satisfied smile.

"Morning," he says quietly, voice heavy with sleep as he rests his chin on her shoulder. She hums in response, dropping the ladle into the bowl and twisting so that she's facing him, all bedheaded and bleary-eyed, her arms over his shoulders as she leans in for a lazy kiss. "Nice shirt," he says against her lips, and Kie grins widely as she remembers the oversized cutoff tank she has on. JJ always loves it when she wears his clothes.

His hands drop gently to her waist, squeezing a bit as they pull apart only to come back once, twice more until they're satisfied. Even then it doesn't feel like enough, but Kie reminds herself that there's breakfast to cook, prying herself from his grip and turning back to the stove.

"You spoiling everyone this morning?" JJ asks, hand splaying out across her back and watching over her shoulder as she flips the first pancake experimentally.

"Well, now that you're awake, it's more like _we're_ spoiling everyone this morning," she says, turning to him with a grin. "Have your flipping skills improved since last time?"

JJ groans. "Forget it, I'm going back to bed."

She laughs, gripping his wrist and pulling him back to her as he turns to leave. She knows he doesn't really want to, otherwise he'd fight a little harder. "Come on, don't be a wimp."

"You're lucky I love you."

She smiles at that, only a little embarrassed by the way she flushes at his words. It's certainly not the first time one of them has said it, but it might as well be, by the way her stomach flutters. It's been over six months now, and Kie still isn't quite used to the fact that they're actually together. It's the most natural thing in the world, yet he still has her feeling like nothing more than a girl with a crush every time he does something sweet.

To this day, she still kicks herself for not realizing sooner that there was _something_ there. It took a treasure hunt, kissing two of her other best friends, being chased down by a drug dealer, seeing her friend's father and brother convicted of several crimes, and half of their junior year, but eventually they found each other. Or, she found him, because apparently he'd found her years ago. His words. And god, did she feel like an idiot after that.

But, she supposes, as she tries to help him pour batter onto the pan, it's better late than never.

"How do yours always come out so good?" JJ complains, watching as his blob squiggles around the edges, less-than-circular and much bigger than it needs to be.

"I'll never reveal my secrets," Kie says, pouring out another perfect circle, making JJ groan in frustration.

They work in relative silence for the next few minutes, moving around each other and working together to finish the batch, stopping every now and then for JJ to spin her in time with the music and sneak a quick kiss, or for Kie to give him a playful poke in the side and tug at his hair, laughter bubbling past their lips every time. It's all so strangely domestic, and yeah they've done this once or twice before, but this morning it really hits her. How perfect this all is. How she could have this every day for the rest of her life and be completely content.

At one point JJ manages an almost-perfect pour, and Kie yelps a little too loudly, but so does he.

"You did it!" she exclaims.

"I did it!" he agrees.

She grips his face and pulls him in for a congratulatory kiss, and he's so enthusiastic in his reciprocation that he nearly tips her backwards, forceful enough that she has to stumble back a few steps to remain on her feet. She feels her back hit the table, JJ's hands now braced on either side of her. "I'm proud of you," she giggles against his lips, and she feels him smile in return.

"I'm gonna be better than you pretty soon," he says, pressing his forehead to hers with a crooked grin.

She reaches up and gently pats his cheek. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she warns playfully, but it seems to fall on deaf ears as he leans in to kiss her again, more deeply this time.

"Seriously, guys?"

They break apart and turn to see Pope standing before them, arms crossed and a frown on his face. Kie bites her lip to keep herself from laughing, and she can feel JJ's eyes on her before he turns to their friend with a rather unapolagetic smile. "Sorry, man," he says, except he does not sound sorry at all.

Pope looks like he's about to say something else, but before he can, his frown deepens and he inhales skeptically through his nose. "Is something burning?"

_ "Shit!" _

Kie and JJ rush back to the stove, Kie grabbing the spatula and flipping JJ's pancake quickly. She gasps and JJ lets out a cry of despair at the blackened circle that now faces them.

"This is the greatest tragedy of my whole fucking life," JJ says, staring at the ruined pancake.

Kie pats his shoulder sympathetically. "Happens to the best of us," she reassures him. Then, "Unrelated, but what was that about being better than me, again?"

"Oh, Kiara's got jokes now, huh?"

"No, really, I want you to say it again."

"You're the worst girlfriend _ever—"_

"I think you mean the best—"

"Absolutely I do not—"

They're still going back and forth when John B and Sarah shuffle into the kitchen, the latter tucked underneath the former's arm. "You guys are loud," Sarah yawns.

"Perfect timing!" says JJ brightly, abruptly ending their little squabble. "Look what I made for you guys!"

He gestures to the large pile of pancakes on the counter, nearly overflowing on the plate. Kiara shoves his face aside in protest, and he yelps indignantly.

"Don't worry, Kie," says John B, "we know JJ's incompetent in the kitchen, plus nowhere near nice enough to make everyone breakfast without wanting anything in return."

JJ launches himself at his best friend and Sarah steps away just in time as the two boys dissolve into laughter and play fighting, Pope groaning and begging them _for once can we not do this_ as Mom Mode is activated. Kie doesn't even bother scolding them. Some things simply never change, and she's in a good mood, anyway. She likes seeing her boys happy.

"These smell good," says Sarah as she steps around the table and slings an arm around Kie's shoulders. "I can't even remember the last time I had pancakes. Not since my dad was... you know."

_ Normal? _ Kie thinks. _Not a sociopath?_

Of course, she doesn't say any of that out loud, instead reaching up and giving her friend's hand a gentle squeeze. It's enough.

It was hard, those few months last year. When John B and Sarah were presumed dead, when Kie and JJ and Pope became the talk of the town, accessories in the case. When Ward and Rafe walked free, when Barry came after JJ for the missing money as if dealing Luke Maybank wasn't bad enough. Everything was a mess for so long, until a postcard arrived at the Chateau, signed _Vlad + Val._ A postcard that Kie would have recycled if not for JJ's urgent hand ripping it away as he put the pieces together.

Sarah and John B returned in early September, and after an extensive investigation and exhausting series of trials, Ward and Rafe were finally convicted of their crimes and given their own sentences. The Pogues made off with their cuts of the gold, each putting it toward something different. Pope and John B to college. Sarah to marine life restoration. Kie a split between her favorite charities and travel funds for after high school. And JJ to _"whatever the fuck I decide, man."_

So, happy ending achieved. With a fair amount of shared trauma on the side, of course, but they're getting through it. Together.

"So, like, are we eating?" asks Pope weakly, eyeing JJ and John B as they come dangerously close to knocking their prized mini-Sasquatch statue to the ground.

"Yeah, come get some," Kie says. Sarah and Pope obediently take their seats at the table, and it only takes a few pointed coughs for JJ and John B to join them as well, all flushed cheeks and glowing smiles. Kie serves up the pancakes, and it's obvious which ones are hers and which are JJ's. She sneaks the burnt one onto her boyfriend's plate, nice-side-up so he won't notice, and finally takes a seat once everyone else has been served.

They only have butter for a topping, and one clean fork which means eating with their hands, plus the pancakes are a little cold, but nobody seems to mind. Sarah and Pope have started up an animated conversation about SAT prep courses, and John B seems very focused on shoving as much pancake into his mouth as humanly possible, JJ watching on with a look that's equal parts horror and adoration.

Kie truly lives for moments like these.

When they've finally finished, bellies full and intent on nothing but lounging for the rest of the day, Kie convinces JJ to help her with the dishes. Of course he whines and gripes about it, because _come on, Kie, we made everything for them, why don't_ they _clean up?_ but she doesn't budge, because she knows he won't say no.

She's right, of course.

She washes and he dries, and it's very easy work because there are only five plates, six if you include the one the pancakes were served on, and then just the spatula, ladle, and mixing bowl. There are other dishes in the sink, but she decides she won't torture him too much this morning and leaves them for later.

Kie's not entirely sure where their friends wandered off to, but she can't seem to bring herself to care as they finish the last of the dishes and JJ immediately wraps his arms around her, burying his head into the crook of her neck and brushing his lips against her collarbone. She curls one arm around his shoulders and runs the opposite hand through his hair. He lets out a satisfied sigh as she does.

"Wanna lay in bed and do nothing for the rest of the day?" she asks, and he nips playfully at her neck in response.

"There's _literally_ nothing I'd rather do," he says, and his voice rumbles against her skin. Kie smiles to herself, reluctantly pulling away from him, but only to shoot him a soft smile as she reaches for his hand. He takes hers, but instead uses it to tug her toward him until she's tucked securely under his arm. She rolls her eyes, but she doesn't complain. She's learned over the years that one of JJ's biggest love languages is physical touch, both platonic and romantic, but only if he's the one to initiate it. It's rare that he's not found wrapped around her in some way, or with a hand tracing through her curls, or lying with his head in her lap when they have their family movie nights.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

They finally make their way to his room, climbing under the covers and meeting somewhere in the middle. She knows they won't do much more than scroll aimlessly through their phones, pass her Juul between them, and talk about pointless shit, but right now that's all she needs. It's all she wants. And she certainly doesn't complain when his hand and fingers begin to wander, circling up and down her thigh, dangerously close to the band of her underwear.

At the end of the day it's _them,_ happy and healthy and _together._ Kie thinks of all that they've been through, the five of them. She thinks about JJ, about their past and their present and even a little bit of their future, and as she feels her eyes grow heavy with sleep, the only sound in the room being the rain outside and JJ's light snoring as his arm tightens around her waist, she wonders how she ever got along without this.

* * *

_just so easy when the whole world fits inside of your arms._

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](https://outerpogues.tumblr.com) if you want!


End file.
